Series: 1 Corinthians
Title: Hungry, Harmless Babies & Discerning
Men
Text: 1 Corinthians 3: 2-3
Date: October 15, 2015
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
1 Corinthians 3: 1: And I, brethren, could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in
Christ. 2: I have fed you with
milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are ye able.
This
is so sad! After so long a time, their spiritual growth was hindered. And they
were the ones who had hindered their spiritual growth. How so?
1 Corinthians 3: 3: For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there
is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and
walk as men?
This
is not that false doctrine some teach—the so-called “carnal Christian.” Some say
there are regenerated believers who leave the gospel of Christ, leave God’s people
and live to their flesh—yet they are “carnal Christians.” Others even say that some of God’s elect will
never be regenerated in this life until they die, so they go through life as
“carnal Christians.” Neither of these doctrines is taught in the word and that
is not what Paul is declaring here.
Those
to whom Paul wrote were regenerated believers. He calls them “brethren.” They
were united in attendance with the other members of the church to hear the word
preached. But their carnal hearts were set
on carnal things rather than having their new spirit set on spiritual things
taught in the gospel. So they were not
growing as believers.
Now,
here is the point for us to get from this message. If we would grow in grace as
children of God, then as the Holy Spirit feeds us the gospel of Christ through
the preaching of the word then we must continue feeding upon the word of Christ
rather than feeding upon carnal meat.
Our
subject is “Hungry, Harmless Babies
& Understanding Men.”
It
is good for believers to be as babies in our hunger for the word of God. Also,
it is good for believers to be as babies in regard to the malice of our flesh. But
in regard to spiritual understanding and spiritual growth, it is good to be men—we
are to seek to be spiritually mature believers.
BABIES IN HUNGER FOR THE WORD
First,
it is good for believers to be as babies in our hunger for the word of God—1
Peter 2:1: Wherefore laying aside
all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby:
In
chapter 1, we see why the Holy Spirit puts such importance on believers
desiring the word of God.
One,
it is because it is by the word of God that we were born-again—“Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth for ever.” (1 Pet 1: 23) We did not give ourselves spiritual
life: we could not do so. Carnal man cannot and will not receive the things of
the Spirit of God. It is by the word of
God, the incorruptible seed, that we are born-again. So we see the word is of
utmost importance to our new life!
Also,
our carnal flesh, with its very best glory, is dead and dying. It will soon
wither away like grass. But by the word of God, we not only have spiritual
life, we have life forever!—“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of
man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” (1 Pet 1: 24-25) So we see
another reason why the word is so vital to a believer. It is by the word that
live and abide and endure forever.
Three,
“And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (1 Pet 1: 25) We
preach the Word of God. It is Christ the Word who is declared throughout the
entire written word. We preach the Word of the word. Can we live without Christ? No way! Neither can we live without
the word whereby the gospel of Christ is preached unto us.
So
the Holy Spirit says through Peter knowing it is the word by which you were
born again, knowing it is the word by which you have eternal life, salvation
from your dead, dying flesh, and knowing it is the word by which the Christ the
Word is preached unto you, “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile,
and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire
the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” (1 Pet 2: 1-2)
But
some at Corinth had done just the opposite—they laid aside the word of God and fed
upon this poisoned, carnal meat—1 Corinthians
3: 2…neither yet are ye able to bear [stronger meat] 3: For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and
strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
True
believers, born of God, have a responsibility and a necessity, not to feed on
these carnal things, but to feed our inward man by the word of God: through
hearing the gospel preached, through reading the scriptures concerning what we
have heard and by asking God to grow us.
Someone
might say, “But we trust the God who is sovereign!” Yes, but naturally
speaking, my sovereign God is the only one who can make the food I eat nourish
my body. But when I am truly hungry, the sovereignty of God does not stop me
from sitting down to eat. I have a responsibility to eat and necessity to
eat. So it is with the word of God.
Brethren,
there is no doubt, we worship the triune God who rules all heaven and earth
absolutely. God our Father chose his people in Christ before the foundation of
the world and none shall pluck them from his hand. Christ redeemed his people
by his precious blood, we are raised in him to God’s right hand—of all that the
Father has given to Christ, he shall lose nothing, but shall raise it up again
at the last day. The Spirit of God must invincibly, irresistibly regenerate
God’s people and give us faith, he shall preserve us, he shall turn us from our
flesh to Christ and he shall grow us in grace as he will.
But
there is such a thing as our carnal flesh quenching our new spirit within. Paul said, “Quench not the spirit.”
(1 Thess 4: 19) For instance, as believers, we hear the word preached. The Holy
Spirit strengthens our inner man in Christ by the Word! But if we leave here and lay aside this word
and we spend our time feeding our old carnal spirit rather than continuing to
feed the new spirit by feeding upon what we have heard in the word of God then
which spirit will be quenched and which will be stirred up?
We
must feed the new spirit with the word of God. Paul told Timothy—“Wherefore I
put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee…”
(2 Tim 1: 6) So this is number one, of utmost importance! Rather than feeding upon carnal meat, lay aside
the old man and “As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye
may grow thereby.”
BABIES IN MALICE
Secondly,
it is good to be babies in regard to the malice of our carnal flesh—1 Corinthians 3: 3: For ye are yet carnal:
for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not
carnal, and walk as men?
Christ
had sent the gospel to the Corinthians: the gospel of God’s free grace, the
gospel of free justification, through the free-gift of faith, in the precious blood
of Christ. They had preachers who Christ sent freely. They had brethren which God
gave freely. In everything they were enriched by the grace of God freely given
them in Christ. And they had God’s promise to confirm them to the end freely by
his grace. (1 Cor 1: 4-9)
Yet,
despite all this they envied one another—even envying their brethren because of
the gifts that God gave their brethren freely by his grace. They had strife
with one another—strife in the midst of the church that God freely chose, freely
redeemed, freely regenerated, freely gifted and freely preserved by his free grace.
They were divided into cliques—they exalted themselves over other cliques when
it was God who freely took them all off the same dung heap, who separated them
all from this world by his grace, and who united them all together into
Christ’s body by his grace.
Do
you see, brethren, how utterly foolish
it is when believers, who are one in Christ by God’s free grace, allow our
carnal flesh to cause us to envy and strive and divide with our brethren! It
came from their carnal flesh, the same as it comes from ours.
So
Christ teaches us that when it comes to our carnal flesh—contentions, malice,
envy, strife, division—it is good to be babies. Christ’s own apostles were divided the same way. They were arguing
over who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God, while they had nothing
but what they received freely from God. So Christ took a little baby, an infant,
set him in their midst and said,
Matthew
18: 2: And Jesus called a little
child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3: And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4: Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5: And whoso shall receive one such
little child in my name receiveth me. 6:
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it
were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that
he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Brethren,
whose little child are you? Whose little helpless infant child are you? You are
the little child of our sovereign heavenly Father!
So
when our flesh would envy our brethren, remember God is your Father. God can
exalt who he will and abase who he will. So as a little child, receive whatever
providence comes from your Father’s hand and rejoice with your brethren. “Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time.” (1 Pet 5: 6)
When
our flesh would strive with our brethren, remember God is your Father. Our
Father rules everything all the time. Is there something right now causing you
to have strife in your heart with one of your brothers or sisters? Even this is
coming to pass under your Father’s sovereign hand! Maybe your sister is just
having a bad day! Maybe your brother is doing what he thinks is best for the
whole congregation. Maybe your Father is
giving you an opportunity to give your brother much needed encouragement! But if we humble ourselves under the mighty
hand of God our Father, we will find that our Father will teach his child,
correct his child, and teach you in the process.
When our flesh would divide us from our brethren,
remember God is our Father—God gave his only begotten Son to make us one with
him and with our brethren. Christ said, “whoso
shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the depth of the sea.” Am I sure I want to talk about one for whom
Christ died? Am I sure I want to divide brethren for whom Christ was made a
curse?
Oh
no. When it comes to the malice of our carnal flesh, let us be converted from
our flesh and in our new spirit become as a little child. It is good to be
God’s baby! Let us humble ourselves therefore under the hand of our mighty
Father. As God’s helpless, dependent, adoring toddler let us receive whatever
God our Father is doing and know it is for our good, for our brethren’s good
and for God’s glory! The Holy Spirit
puts this spirit in God’s little child, teaching us,
Colossians
3: 12: Put on therefore, as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering; 13: Forbearing
one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even
as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14: And above all these things put on charity, which is the
bond of perfectness. 15: And let
the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one
body; and be ye thankful. 16: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another [not in our personal fleshly
words, which stirs up envy, strife and division] in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17: And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
(Col 3:12-17)
So
when it comes to hungering for the word of God it is good for believers to be
as newborn babies, desiring the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby. And when it comes to our carnal
flesh, Christ says it is good for believers to be as little baby children in
malice.
AS MEN IN UNDERSTANDING
But
lastly, when it comes to spiritual understanding, be men—1 Corinthians 14: 20: Brethren, be not children in understanding:
howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
Oh,
may God give us grace to heed this word.
“Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye
children, but in understanding be men.” It is not time to babies when it comes
to spiritual discernment. This is the
time to be men.
Now,
it is only by God’s grace, by God’s Spirit, by God giving us his word like he is
doing here tonight, that God grows us in understanding. The Hebrews were having
the same problems as the Corinthians. In
Hebrews 5, he declares how God mature us in understanding:
Hebrews 5: 11:
Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull
of hearing. 12: For when for the
time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be
the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of
milk, and not of strong meat. 13:
For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness:
for he is a babe. 14: But strong
meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of
use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
God
exercises our spiritual senses. The Holy Spirit makes us hear and see Christ in
the gospel. He makes us smell the sweet odor of Christ’s one offering for his
people. We are made to taste that the Lord is gracious in all that he has, is
and shall do for us. We feel and handle the word of Life in our salvation and
in all our trials and shortcomings. Over and over we learn that Christ is
always faithful and true.
So
this “word of righteousness”, this “discerning between good and evil” is discerning
between what glorifies Christ and what does not glorify Christ. As we grow in
grace and in the knowledge of Christ, we discern between law and Gospel, between
the doctrines of men and the doctrine of Christ. As trials arise, we discern between
when to speak and when to remain silent; we discern between when we are walking
in our flesh and when we are walking according to God’s word; we discern
between when we are looking to self or looking to Christ. The more we have our
spiritual senses exercised upon Christ the more we become skillful in discerning
between when we ought to be babies and when we ought to be men. All of this by
discerning what glorifies Christ and what does not.
But
this spiritual maturity in understanding does not comes by feeding on our
carnal flesh, nor by being strong in the malicious spirit of our flesh. The
flesh profits nothing.
Wherefore
lay it and all its hindrances aside. And as newborn babies, desire the sincere
milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. Feed on the word everyday like we do
our daily bread.
And
as little dependent babies, receive the kingdom of God, being children in
malice, being children depending upon the mighty hand of God our Father. Whatever
God our Father is doing in his kingdom is right so receive it as such.
Do
this so that in understanding, our God might make us to be men, spiritually
mature! Ask God to take this word and feed us and to exercise our spiritual
senses thereby. Ask God to grow us up into Christ in all things, in his grace
and in knowledge of him. Oh, to know Christ more! Oh, to glorify Christ in all we say and do! Christ
is our Meat! Christ is the Kingdom of heaven we desire to receive! Christ is
the Mark toward whom we press!
Amen!